Strength in Unity: Welcoming Our Partnership with WE Soda

Congratulations on becoming business partners with WE Soda! The E Board and Chief Stewards have

been working hard on our massive backlogs of arbitration, grievances, RFIs, and Unfair Labor Practices.

Unfortunately, Genesis conveyed to WE Soda that there were 2 grievances a month, the 80/20 was

settled and paid and we had a great relationship. WE Soda has treated us fair, dare I say good. Guray has

told us we are now a family. I must tell you I have not heard that since the FMC days. We are going into

this with a clean sheet. We are working hard to settle and get back to 0 so we can move forward. If there

is a grievance, please immediately tell your supervisor and get it taken care of. If you have a safety issue,

tell your supervisor we need address it immediately. I think Guray has made it very clear we are going to

follow the CBA. WE Soda has recognized the neglect that has been going on at our mine. They realize

this is a steep hill to climb and they have already started investing in the company. I think you will see

efforts in the mine that you haven’t seen before. Be sure to come to the meeting and ask the questions

you have this Thursday. Be patient with us, we are working hard to get caught up. Both sides are drained

at the end of the day. We will share with you as soon as we get everything taken care of. Thank you for

your patience, we have been saying again and again we will be the safest, highest producing, most

efficient mine in the world. It feels like together in our new partnership with WE Soda we are going to

get there much faster than we would have with Genesis. Please start removing all Genesis, Tronox, FMC

branded items you have around. WE are leaving the past in the past only eyes forward. The copies of the

contract that were printed with Genesis on the front have been thrown away. WE Soda wants their name

on it right next to ours. Guray has been meeting with all supervisors and telling them most importantly

you will treat our people with dignity and respect, we won’t be cussing at, yelling, belittling, or

degrading our coworkers. If you do, you will find a new place to work. That is a two-way street. Work

with your supervisors and business partners with dignity and respect. Guray has informed them they will

follow every letter of the CBA. If you get bypassed on OT, tell your supervisor the second you find out.

Give them the chance to correct it before the shift is worked. I can tell you it seems like it’s been one

thing after the other since we’ve been elected, I want to thank all of you for the support. It makes these

long frustrating days a little easier. Thank you, chief stewards for showing up and representing our

members so well. We know there will be a lot of questions, dredge, mine, timeclocks and 80/20. There

has been more discussion on these in the past week than Genesis has had with us, we should be wrapping

it up in the next couple weeks. Please come to the meeting and ask the questions or give us until next

weekend and we’ll send another update if everything goes smoothly. We are doing what we can to get

ahead of the MSHA field office being shut down, at this time no updates. It’s been a wild ride since May,

more work than anyone in the union would want. We can’t tell the future but it seems to be paying off.

Strap your boots up, be safe, work hard and show WE Soda the best thing that came with their purchase

is USW 13214 supplying the labor at our mine.

In Solidarity,

The E Board